1966 Pontiac LeMans
Snowball Effect
Almost any car guy will be asked the question, "How did you get into cars?" "I'm 46, and have always had the car bug bad. I think my first two-syllable word was Corvette. When I was little, my grandmother arranged for a ride for my brother and I in the front seat of a neighbor's '65 Corvette. It was white with blue interior with a four-speed manual. We were little, as we both fit comfortably on the passenger seat. I was hooked ever since," says Jay Bovarnick, owner of this 1966 Pontiac LeMans. When the American muscle car was abundant, Jay was up front jumping at the chance to play with the big boys with their V-8, rear-wheel-drive toys.

1/9

One of the first large-scale projects Jay dug into was his 10-year-old son's '70 Boss 302. The lucky kid agreed to keep his father company in the garage and build up his car with him, learning along the way. They did a lot of the work, but because it was a real Boss car, they didn't want to get too wild and hurt the value of the rare classic. Jay was pleased with the result, but he craved a build with fewer rules.

2/9

That's when this LeMans came into the game. Jay wanted to keep his son involved, so he let him pick the car, a Pontiac A-body. He wanted to start with a solid car to limit the number of surprises that would come up. They searched eBay, the local paper, and automotive listing publications for months when they stumbled over this car in Hemmings. The car was in terrific shape and was only one town over. The justification to his wife was that he would leave the paint alone and do everything himself on a budget. So much for that ...

When the car came home, he discovered some issues on the floor and decided to separate the body from the frame. The rest was history. He went a little overboard with the whole project and things spun out of control in more than a couple instances. He found that over a third of his time and money spent was working backward because of poor research or trying to do something himself that he should have outsourced. Jay says next time he's sending his car out to be sandblasted instead of doing it at home, and he's going with a crate engine.

'68 Biscayne Wagon
Track Buddy
The way most racing teams function is there is a tow-rig with some crew, but everyone not contained in the rig's walls will catch the next flight home after the race is over. Not Jason Line. Jason is the 2006 NHRA Pro Stock champion, and drives the Summit Racing Pro Stock GXP car. He took the more adventurous route and teamed with crew chief Rob Downing and crew member Pat Topolinski to take on the 44-hour drive from The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to the KB Racing shop in Mooresville, North Carolina. They took his latest ride, a powder-blue '68 Chevrolet Biscayne station wagon. "The first car I ever drove was a '68 Impala, and for some reason I've liked them since then, so it was a natural choice for a project car," Line says. "I actually have a '68 Biscayne wagon back in Minnesota with a 427 in it, but it's completely rusted out, so I was looking for something with a good body that I could transfer the drivetrain into."

4/9

Jason asked NHRA announcer Alan Reinhart to help him search the state of Arizona for a project since his hometown state's cars have major rust problems. The guys don't get a lot of days off, but through a lucky schedule of West Coast races, they were able to plan some road trips. Reinhart went to check out a lead Jason found, and the car checked out OK. The next item on the list was to drive it to Las Vegas where Jason could take the keys and bring it home. That's how the 2,200-mile road trip started. There were several issues along the way, keeping warm being the biggest. They had a spare set of points, wires, coolant, and some other emergency repair items but nothing catastrophic happened. The road warrior got between 12 and 16 mpg, a fair mileage for a car of its age and size. They traded driving shifts, and made it home in less than two days.

5/9

The guys had such a blast that Jason decided to do a complete overhaul on the wagon to make it the best Biscayne he could imagine. Jason obviously has a close relationship with Summit Racing, so it was a no-brainer to turn to the pages of their catalog to dream up his build. He chose all Hotchkis and Moog suspension components and a disc brake setup from Summit. To take over power duty, he's building a 557ci big-block Chevy starting with a GMPP block, Trick Flow heads and intake, COMP valvetrain, and a Summit carburetor. Sounds like a gas guzzler, but a small powerplant just isn't an option for Jason.

'72 Dodge Charger
Farmer's Fancy
Many of us are told early in life to find a job that's secure and lucrative enough to support their family; having passion for a job is a secondary condition. Dave Hall served his years in college to collect his degree in computer science, and worked for 15 years beside the leaders of several successful companies. He was a partner in a software development firm and very successful in his field, but that didn't satisfy him. He always tinkered with his beloved muscle cars when he had time off the clock, but didn't get the amount of work done in that time to make him happy. One day, Dave said enough to the clickety-clack of the keys in the white-walled office, and left the computer biz.

7/9

Dave was thrown into the automotive industry by his father, owner of a used car dealership with a full-service shop. He worked there as soon as he was old enough, and got really interested in cars. He remembers his girlfriend in high school had a '68 Firebird to match her father's '69, and Dave was jealous as he helped her work on the 'Birds. He had an '84 at the time, but it wasn't quite the same. He finally got a '72 455 four-speed HO Firebird-his first expedition into a real restoration job on his own. He kept it as a hobby though, because that was the smart thing to do at the time.

Five years ago, Dave started a business called Restore a Muscle Car. It started as just him and a good friend working part-time doing bodywork to finish a couple projects, and evolved into a full-time gig. The 15,000-foot shop in Lincoln, Nebraska, was just enough to swallow the explosion of business three years ago.

8/9

Wayne Heine bought this '72 Dodge Charger new off the showroom floor almost 40 years ago. For the last two decades, the Charger was left in a barn to have the internals eaten away by mice. Heine is an old-school farmer, who doesn't take many trips out into the populated parts of the state, but the hour-long drive to visit his car at Restore a Muscle Car was getting him back on the scene. He asked Dave to keep the car looking original, but with modern touches to make it more fun, and it looks like they are doing just that.

BY THE NUMBERS

'72 Dodge Charger

Wayne Heine • Waco, NE

ENGINE

Type:

6.1L late-model Hemi

Cooling:

'07 Charger radiator and electric fans

Fuel system:

dual electric fuel pumps

Exhaust:

TTI headers, 3-inch exhaust, MagnaFlow polished mufflers

Fasteners:

Ring Brothers

DRIVETRAIN

Transmission/shifter:

six-speed manual from ProMotion

Driveshaft:

PST 4-inch aluminum

Rear axle:

Ford 9-inch with 3.73 gears

CHASSIS

Front suspension:

RMS front K-member

Rear suspension:

RMS rear four-link

Brakes:

Wilwood four-wheel disc brakes

INTERIOR

Seats:

recovered Sebring convertible buckets

Dashboard:

'07 Charger gauge cluster with RedLine gauge adapters

Stereo:

Mazda touchscreen inside '09 Challenger console, Kicker speakers

Column:

'07 Charger steering column

Comforts:

Vintage Air A/C, power windows and seats

BODY/PAINT

Body:

welded subframe connectors, custom floor tunnel for trans clearance

Paint:

Hemi Orange base/clear

ROLLING STOCK

Wheels:

Wheel Vintiques Magnum 500, 17x9

Tires:

Nitto; 255/50R17 & 275/50R17

Mothers Picture Perfect Award
Our Hometown Hot Rodding column is not appearing this month because our 25-page Homebuilt Muscle story is taking its place. We normally award a nice assortment of Mothers car care products to the best car photo appearing in Hometown Hot Rodding. If you'd like to enter to win the Mothers swag, please send us some photos (a CD with digital images and companion prints) along with a detailed spec sheet to us at Popular Hot Rodding, Attn: Hometown Hot Rodding, 774 S. Placentia Ave., Placentia, CA 92870. Please remember that all photos need to be a minimum of 3,000 x 2,000 pixels. Be sure to include your contact information and address so we know where to send your Mothers!